Why Pay Your Church Staff, And How Much?

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How should we pay our pastors? By our response to the Spirit’s leading to love and serve one another.⇦Tweet that!

The Awkward Question: How much should we pay our pastors?

I was a brand new pastor just out of seminary. Judy and I had been standing with our two small children in the hall outside the worship center for over an hour. It was one of the most tense, embarrassing, confusing and awkward hours of our lives.

Why? The church was publicly discussing and debating my salary, considering the merits of how much they should pay me, and apparently arguing with one another. A few people left the meeting with frowns on their faces and let us know we weren’t the spiritual people they thought we were.

Our story isn’t unique.

The church often doesn’t know how to answer the question, “How much should we pay our pastors?” There are those who feel the pastor should be kept poor and those who feel the pastor should receive exorbitant salaries (not many of those!). But most Christians want to be fair, we just don’t know how to define fair.

It may be an awkward question, but the answer is simple…if we take God’s advice in Galatians 6:6-10.

The Simple Answer: Let the Spirit lead both pastors and flock in their response to love and serve one another.

Paul puts pastors’ salaries in the context of a community where Christians walk in the spirit. Here’s his simple formula: You who walk in the Spirit: Share your finances with those who teach you the word.⇦Tweet that!

You can read my detailed notes on Galatians 6:6-10 here, and I hope you’ll subscribe to the podcast here. It’s a little edgy, but this is an edgy subject that needs to be addressed!

Question: How would you answer the question, “How much should we pay our pastor?”

9 Comments

Average pastoral income in the US is $22k/year. This, for a position that usually requires a masters degree and for which most parishoners want a doctoral degree. The average pastoral career is 5 years before they realize that they cannot provide for their families.

When speaking with search committees, I conduct an exercise with them wherin they list the responsibilities and duties of a pastor and alongside them, they list how many hours per week the pastor should engage in each of those duties. They usually come up with a 75-90 hr work week to put with a $22k/year salary (that’s $4.78/hr. with no overtime).

The pastors are on call 24/7, they are counselors, teachers, marriage and family consultants too sometimes. When we have a God believing, God fearing, God loving, Bible thumping, Bible teaching pastor led by the Holy Spirit, they are invaluable.

James Celeste Mabe The pastors are on call 24/7, they are counselors, teachers, marriage and family consultants too sometimes. When we have a God believing, God fearing, God loving, Bible thumping, Bible teaching pastor led by the Holy Spirit, they are invaluable.